How happy are those who know what sorrow means for they will be given courage and comfort!

Mt. 5:3 Philips

Our world obsesses about happiness. But the Bible talks very little about happiness, and when it does, it surprises us. The closest we get was out of the mouth of Jesus when he used the word makarios (blessed) in the Sermon on the Mount. Phillips translated makarios this way: “How happy are….”

But that happiness, whatever it is, is upside down. Those Jesus calls happy are not the wealthy, the powerful, and those at the top of the ladder. No, he calls those happy who are poor, who know sorrow, who are hungry and thirsty for goodness, who are merciful, who have suffered under the persecutor’s fist.

The happiness Jesus speaks of does not rise out of our circumstances. It does not appear when our stars align. Jesus speaks of happiness that comes from the hand of God. It is his blessing and grows strongest in the face of contrary winds.

Happiness comes not from the world around us but from God alone.

Savior, if of Zion’s city
I, thro’ grace, a member am,
let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in thy name;
fading is the worldling’s pleasure,
all his boasted pomp and show;
solid joys and lasting treasure
none but Zion’s children know.

John Newton

photo by ronsaunders47 Bent over with the wind